What is cataract and how to deal with it

Cataract: disperse the fogZhanna Ozhogina, ABC magazine

Cataracts are considered by many to be an inevitable companion of age. But thanks to the development of modern medical technologies, it is possible to successfully combat this problem today and restore vision to almost 100%.

Through the hazeTranslated from ancient Greek, this disease is translated as "waterfall".

To modern ophthalmologists, such a comparison seems quite appropriate. With the development of cataracts, there are changes in the transparency of the lens (a natural lens that has the ability to refract and focus light rays on the retina in different ways), its ability to transmit light rays worsens. As a result, to the patient, all objects seem to be obscured by a translucent wall of falling water, and when looking at the light source, it sometimes doubles.

In the advanced stage of the disease, when the cataract "matures", the eye is completely closed to light and no longer sees anything.

Such a development of events is usually associated with the aging processes of the body. For some, they go faster, for others slower, so not everyone suffers from cataracts. In many ways, this also happens because the disease is considered hereditary – there are many cases when it passes from generation to generation.

Sometimes such processes in the lens of the eye can be "triggered" by an injury or burn, as well as some diseases (for example, diabetes mellitus). In this case, we are talking about the so-called complicated cataract, which can occur at any age.

Drops or surgery?A similar question is asked by most of those who have been diagnosed with this.

In an effort to avoid surgery, many patients rely on drops that allegedly affect the clouding of the lens. Experts are skeptical of such statements. Remedies for resorption of lens opacities and improvement of metabolism in the tissues of the eye are good only at the initial stages of the disease, but they do not fundamentally solve the problem.

The main method of cataract treatment was and still is surgical removal of the clouded lens. The choice of the surgical intervention method is influenced by the form and stage of the disease, as well as the general condition of the patient, his age, the presence of other eye diseases.

Many patients and some doctors believe that it is necessary to remove a cataract only when it "matures". Experts do not share this opinion. This approach was justified 30 years ago, when the technical capabilities of ophthalmology allowed removing only mature cataracts.

Now the situation has radically changed. All over the world, the question of surgical intervention is raised with visual acuity of 50-60% – after all, we are talking about the quality of life.

Ophthalmologists recommend not to delay the operation and focus on your own feelings. For a working person, this bar should be at least 70-80%, for a person of retirement age – at least 30-40%.

One of the most common and least traumatic techniques is the crushing of the lens by ultrasonic (less often laser) emulsification, when the lens is broken into small particles using ultrasound, which are then sucked off with a special device.

Glasses are not needed30-40 years ago, after removing the clouded lens, patients were prescribed special glasses with thick lenses (+12-13 diopters).

At the same time, the operated patients experienced a number of inconveniences associated with optical errors – all the images seemed very enlarged, the fields of vision were limited, it was difficult for a person, for example, to walk on the steps.

However, the rapid development of medical technologies has led to the fact that the clouded natural lens began to be replaced by an artificial one made of special polymer materials. Today it is one of the most popular and effective ophthalmic operations.

Quickly and without painSurgical techniques also vary.

This is classic, traditional with a sufficiently large incision and modern – when a tiny 1.6-2.5 mm incision is made on the cornea, through which a new one is installed in place of the removed lens – soft, rolled into a thin tube that opens inside the eye. The operation takes no more than 10 minutes, is performed under local anesthesia, and on this or the next day the patient goes home.

Thanks to the progress in medical technology, it was possible to solve another problem – with accommodation (the ability to clearly see objects located at different distances from the eye). Currently, so-called multifocal artificial lenses have appeared, which can provide good vision both in the distance and near, so that the patient does not need to prescribe glasses after surgery.

And although the full restoration of vision after such an operation comes in a month, many go to work after a few days. If the operation went without complications, the artificial lens can be in the eye for almost the whole life, without causing any inconvenience.

Today, high-tech cataract surgeries are performed in many clinics of the country according to quotas, at the expense of the local regional budget. So it's not necessary to go far from home. Only the MNTC "Eye Microsurgery" named after S.N. Fedorov has a wide network of branches from St. Petersburg to Khabarovsk, and in each of them they work using the same technologies as in the capital.

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01.12.2011